Skittery's Christmas Eve
by KatyRose4
Summary: Every Christmas Eve, Mush's little sister comes to the Lodging House. Every Christmas Eve, Skittery disappears until the next day. Why? Is he just in a bad mood? Or is it something much more than that?
1. Part 1

**Author's Note: This takes place in 1886 (three years before the strike). Skittery is fourteen, Mush is thirteen, and Rachel is eight.**

It was a typical Christmas Eve at the Lodging House. Everyone went out and sold that day, but the night was theirs. Kloppman had the place decorated and had everyone add to his work. He had also spent all day cooking sugar cookies and gingerbread for everyone, and they ate the sweets sitting around a fire. It was like a small party.

Christmas Day brought a special feast by the Children's Aid Society. All were invited, but only as long as they were boys. The small Christmas Eve gathering was the time when the girls came to the Lodging House (since Kloppman was given no such orders to dictate the attendance). Everyone would go. And if they didn't, it was because they had some reason (whether or not it was actually truthful).

Skittery was an exception to that untold rule. As the people arrived, he would put on his coat and exit. Without a single word or explanation. People had asked, but after a few tries, knew better than to ask. It had become like a fun little game to the boys to try to figure out what he was up to.

"Hey Skitts, where ya goin'?" Mush would ask every year.

"Out," Skittery would reply sharply, closing the door tightly behind him.

It was a yearly ritual, and Racetrack joked that it was, "A free moving picture with the best quality known to this generation. Sound and color!" It was his little game to make fun of the situation.

One year was different though. It was Skittery's sixth Christmas Eve at the Lodging House and he had planned on continuing his annual tradition of skipping the party. Of course, that time, it didn't happen.

* * *

Skittery sat in the common room, relaxing until it was time to go. A few people were already there, but he wasn't going to leave just yet. There was noise, but he just blocked it out. It was snowing outside, and the streets were turning dark. Everything felt still. There were strings of garland, and colorful flowers, and tinkling bells. The candles glowed brightly. Everything looked so pretty. Then it started to get more crowded. More people came.

Among the guests was little Rachel Myers, Mush's sister. She was smiling as she walked in, excited for the party, (though still shivering from the cold). She was wearing a big, oversized, brown coat and handed it back to her brother. "Thanks for letting me borrow your jacket." Her curly brown hair was sopping wet, but she proudly wore her new dress. It was thick and warm, with a red plaid pattern and cute bow in the back. It was a nice change from her usual attire, and she felt extra pretty that night.

Skittery headed towards the door and tripped, spilling the contents of his bag onto the floor. Rachel could catch a glimpse of some artwork and slips of paper with messy writing. But before getting a good look, Skittery had scooped it back up.

"Guys it's freezing out there," Mush laughed through his chattering teeth. Sure enough, through the window, Skittery could see a small blizzard. It was a good thing the girl's lodging house wasn't too far away, or Mush could've died of hypothermia. The weather wasn't concerning to Skittery though. It hadn't been too bad in the morning, and it was't the first time he had seen such a storm. He knew it was bound to go away soon. Besides, it wasn't the first Christmas he was cooped up inside for a little while longer, it wasn't a big deal. He just decided to move upstairs.

Racetrack, Blink, and Jack followed him. They knew he wouldn't be up there too long, and thought he could use the company. They got to the bunkroom, careful not to shut the door all the way (the knob on the inside was broken). They heard the sound of knuckles popping, and found Skittery on his bed. When he noticed them, he climbed down onto the bottom bunk. The boys sat scattered on the floor, and Racetrack took out some beer.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the party was still in full swing. People were talking, everyone enjoyed the hot chocolate, and it wasn't too rowdy or crowded. It had a pleasant and nice feel without being too boring. Rachel was meeting one of Crutchy's friends when the subject of Skittery somehow popped up.

"Crutchy's known Skittery for much longer, but he and Jack are a lot closer," the girl said.

"Where are they anyway?"

"Oh just upstairs," Crutchy replied. "I saw them earlier."

Rachel gave a slight grin. She had never talked to Skittery before, and now she had a chance. She was interested in meeting the mysterious boy that happened to disappear every Christmas Eve. "Thanks, bye!" She bounded up the stairs and Mush, making sure she wasn't in any trouble, did the same.

Unfortunately, she wasn't aware of the broken doorknob, and let the door slam shut. "No!" the boys shouted.

"What?" Rachel was confused, and turned around to see what was going on. Realizing the error of her mistake, she gave a quick "oops," blushed, and mumbled an apology.

Jack and Mush lightly hit the door a few times, hoping to get someone's attention from downstairs. When no one answered, they slammed the door a lot harder, and everyone screamed, "Hey! We're stuck in here! Can someone help!" But still, no one came.

"Well that settles it. We're stuck," Skittery declared, taking a swig from his third drink.


	2. Part 2

And so, the six were trapped in a locked room with no one knowing where they were.

"Relax guys, someone has to come up here eventually," Mush pointed out. "We'll just wait." He turned to Rachel. "And I can just tell Ms. Bronwen what happened." Ms. Bronwen was in charge of Rachel's lodging house. She was known to be strict, but also, very understanding. Besides, no one could be angry with Rachel for too long. "I don't think she'll be too mad you missed curfew, it's the holidays."

It was the last thing anyone had said for awhile. Racetrack moved the drinks off to the side. Mush and Rachel joined the group on the floor. There was nothing better to do. Skittery went to the bathroom. It was quiet. Although it was fine to everyone else, Rachel couldn't handle the silence.

"Skittery never seems to be in a good mood Christmas Eve," she commented. No one knew the real reason why he would leave, but everyone (like Rachel) noticed the slightly grumpy and detached behavior and (correctly) decided the two were related. But no one had given an accurate guess to what was going on since three years ago. "What do you think he does?"

There were multiple suggestions.

"Visit family?"

"Do odd jobs?"

"Go on a date?" (That was a joke. Racetrack's.)

"You know I can hear you guys," Skittery walked back in. He didn't seem particularly mad, he was just the same as before. But for some odd reason, he was holding his bag from earlier. Rachel was confused, wondering why he took it with him. The previously organized objects had been messily shoved inside. He had been going through it while he was out. Rachel had considered asking about it, but decided in favor of keeping quiet.

The hour passed slowly. People seemed to rotate seats. The cluster on the floor had moved around all over the place and everyone was spread out. Skittery leaning against the bed post, Mush on his bed, Jack and Blink still on the ground, Racetrack at the far wall, and Rachel walking around, trying to occupy herself by talking to people.

* * *

Skittery was sketching. He had begun it earlier, in the bathroom, but decided that was weird and went back to everyone. He then continued what he was working on before, the eyes.

It was always the difficult part, getting them to be exactly the right size. Large and big, but not taking up too much space or out of proportion. Whenever he thought he had it, he decided it wasn't perfect enough and erased it, only to realize it was ruining the paper and making it look messy. And whenever he did get it right, he had to do the same for the other side. And they were never always exactly the same, and it was an annoying struggle. Sometimes he just skipped them for the end, because they were causing too much trouble, but the end result was always good.

The pencil he had been using was becoming dull. He dug into his bag to find another one. Which was important because he was about to start the hair next, and that took a lot out of the tip. It was always wild and tangled, even though the girl had it only at shoulder-length. She never brushed it. She had planned on making it long and smooth when she got older, but it never happened.

The nose was his favorite part. Sometimes it didn't look right, and it got hard, much like the eyes. But even so, he just enjoyed it. It was one of the simpler parts of the face, at least on the girl. It was a tiny button nose (he personally preferred the ones with a more refined ridge, but it didn't really matter). Drawing noses just came naturally to him.

The lips were already done, so the shading came next. The shading, the most important (and scariest) part of the piece. It went around the edges of the face, and the mouth, nose, and eyes, but it lacked realism. He was never the best artist. But he tried. And his skills were definitely getting better after the years of practice.

"So that's what's in the bag, huh?" Skittery looked up. It was Rachel. "Art?" She had noticed the pictures before, but she wasn't entirely certain if he had made them himself or got them from someone.

"Yep." He went back to the picture, finishing up the final details.

"Who is she?"

"No one," he replied quickly. Maybe even a little too fast.

Rachel started going through the bag. It was unattended, on the bed behind him. "She's everywhere." The girl was in all of the pictures. Rachel knew that she wasn't just 'no one'.

Skittery quickly got up and took the bag from her in a slight panic. "Don't look through my stuff."

"S-sorry," she stammered.

Skittery suddenly felt bad. He didn't mean to come across so harsh. "It's, just a, private matter," he tried to explain. Rachel nodded, not wanting to make him upset either. She was looking through his stuff after all.

Now that Skittery was feeling much more calm about it, he decided to try to be friendlier. It was Mush's kid sister. "You know there are poems in there too."

"Can I please read one!" It was just one little comment, he didn't expect it to spark her interest.

Under normal circumstances, he would've said no. But she looked so excited, he couldn't. "Yeah sure kid."

 _Lena_

 _Her piercing screams shook the floor,_

 _Hitting through the cold night air._

 _The fire's died, the bed is worn,_

 _Yet life still burns (but faint)._

 _And tears she wept, so tired._

 _The end of the road was nigh._

 _For when she was done, and the early morn came,_

 _The little girl was gone._

"Now I'm not sure if that counts as a poem," Skittery awkwardly cleared his throat. "The last two lines don't follow the rhythm. I'm still working on it..." He had hoped to put the topic on writing rather than subject. It didn't work.

"Lena. Her name was Lena. She's the girl in the pictures, isn't she?" An innocent question, with a simple answer. A simple answer that would have to lead to further explanation. And that was not something he wanted to deal with.

Skittery looked around. The others were watching. He looked a little bit surprised, or shocked, and he was. He trapped in a sense (not that he tried to let it show), wondering what he was supposed to say. "Yes."

Rachel had another question. A burning one. One that she was almost scared to ask. But she was too deep in now to just not talk about it. No matter how scary the answer. "Who was she?"

And Skittery knew what she was really asking. How was he was related to the girl, and what exactly happened. "My sister," he replied. "She was sick." He knew she wanted more, but he just couldn't bring himself to say anything else. It wasn't something he liked to talk about.

"Oh..." Now she was the one that didn't know what to say next. Was she supposed to say sorry? And sorry for what? That she pried into it? That his sister died? Would it have been inappropriate to speak? Or to not speak? Luckily Skittery had the next word.

"I would visit her, every few weeks and on Christmas Eve. Then after it happened, I started just walking around the city instead."

And now everyone knew why he would leave the lodging house during the party. And that really did include everyone, because right after he said it, Crutchy and the others _finally_ opened the door.

 **Author's Note: I am not a big fan of the ending, or how the story is written. And haven't really done poetry before so I'm sorry about how it turned out. I was rushing it.**

 **Lena's name may change, if I ever use her again.**

 **And thank you biankies, for reading and reviewing. It means a lot. :)**


End file.
